


an orca's dolphin

by leothequeenn (orphan_account)



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, fishbutt au, like biting so, theres also like a little violence, thought i'd put that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-10
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-12 14:24:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2113275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/leothequeenn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new gang of sharks arrive, and a certain shark gets a little too close for comfort to a dolphin, and suddenly an orca takes advantage of this opportunity. “an orca spots his prey” essentially.</p>
            </blockquote>





	an orca's dolphin

**Author's Note:**

> wow okay so I researched like a big dweeb on orcas and sharks and so… I thought of this! It was supposed to be something cute that would come out of this but I don’t think that’s the case. Oh well. This was my first time doing a Free! fic. I also chose the Moorish idol for Nagisa (which is the black and white fish with a bit of yellow on its rear. Yknow, Gill from Finding Nemo? Yeah, him.) And Rei is the Bluelashed Butterflyfish, for obvious reasons.
> 
> i posted this on my ff.net ~miraxchan7

**.x.**

_'We don't think that the orcas are specifically making a decision to go out and hunt shark. The marine world can be a difficult place to find food. When there is an opportunity, an orca will take it.' – Dr. Visser._

**.x.**

The ocean was calm; too calm, Makoto Tachibana thought quietly as he swam through the moderately warm waters. It was a deep blue as far as the orca could see, and he was glad for that, but it still made him uneasy. Making one smooth clicking sound, he listened in. Nothing was moving beside or in front of him. Which was odd, since things had been hectic since there was a Great White shark clan now circulating around the area Makoto lived, and one of them had his eye out for a certain bottlenose dolphin.

He knew the shark would strike at any moment and Makoto kept his eyes on his hands in front of him, subconsciously swimming a little faster now at the thought of the sharks hurting that poor dolphin.

Seeing Haruka Nanase face down on the ocean floor made a bolt of fear run through Makoto, and as a result he forced his tail to whip back and forth harder and faster, increasing his speed. He finally caught up to Haru and lied on top of him, fiercely wrapping his arms around Haru’s slender waist. Haru let out a disgruntled noise, surprised by the sudden hug from the heavier creature. They remained in that position for about a minute, with Makoto tensing his muscles and Haru silent. Finally, Haru spoke and it made Makoto smile.

“What got you so scared?” Haru mumbled and Makoto shook his head weakly. He couldn’t say anything about the sharks here, nor could he say that he thought his best friend – _and possible mate?_ – was dead.

It was actually really obvious Haru knew about the sharks, since he had met up with them on more than one occasion, but Makoto wanted to protect him as well as he could.

And having Haru laying out on the sand instead of at his coral home was not a brilliant idea, even for the smart dolphin.

“I’m not scared.” Makoto muttered.

“Your tail is twitching.”

Makoto forced his tail to remain still, which took longer than he’d hope for. “That’s nothing. I was just wanting to give a hug to you. Is that okay?” His green gaze was back on the dolphin’s blue eyes, and he immediately earned a nod. “Alright then, good. Do you want me to get you some fish?”

“If you promise not to eat it all.”

“Not my fault I eat so much, but I will always save some for you. If you promise not to always sleep in the first place you think of.” Makoto countered and Haru gave a lazy shrug. “I’m serious, some shark is going to think you’re prey.”

“They already do. But I’m smarter than them,” Haru was right, but that didn’t make Makoto feel better. Their species is typically smarter than sharks’ species are, but there are times where that’s not always the case. “I’m just saying.”

“That doesn’t matter if you’re ‘just saying,’ Haru…” Makoto let out a sigh, eventually placing his hands under Haru’s armpits, lifting himself and the dolphin off of the sand. “Just be careful, will you?” Haru nodded his head once, swinging his gray sleek tail back and forth.

“I got it. Let’s go get some mackerel.” Not wanting to fight with his choice of fish, Makoto agreed to the statement and swam with Haru, using both their echolocation sense to spot the schools of fish.

**.x.**

Makoto returned to his coral shelter sometime later, after eating with Haru, and found that his younger siblings were sleeping in their joined room. There was something bothering him, but he figured it was nothing to get worked up about. He then figured what was could possibly be bothering him; his parents were missing, but his mother and father were probably out hunting. Deciding his siblings were alright for now, Makoto swam out of the back of their shelter, checking up on the grave he had for his goldfish whenever he was younger. He stared at the grave, surrounded by coral and seaweed to signal where it was, and found that nothing was out of place.

He smiled gently at the memory of the goldfish, but immediately frowned afterward. When he found out the fisherman who gave those two goldfish to him had died, he did not want to speak with fishermen in fear of getting connected with them. Double-checking that the grave was in good condition, he returned to his shelter to find his younger brother up, his face scrunched up in distress and his wailing sounds echoing off the water.

“Ren?” Makoto asked cautiously before quickly swimming up to him, wrapping his arms around his waist and picking him up. “What’s wrong?” His green eyes narrowed, shifting back and forth as his little brother clung to him. He noticed Ran was also up and he motioned with one swift finger for her to get out. Ran whimpered as she fiercely swam out of the darkened room. “What happened?” He asked again, his voice low as he gritted his teeth together.

Ren still didn’t release from Makoto’s front side, hiding his face into his older brother’s neck. Makoto kept one arm on him and swam inside the room, turning on small lantern-fishes they use as light sources. Taking a few looks around the room before deciding there was nothing, he glanced down at his little brother.

“What happened?” He asked once more, finally getting the littlest to pull apart from him.

“There was a shark i-in the corner! I-It was staring at me! I saw his tail!” Ren squeaked out, eyes closing again and he started whimpering.

“Ran, did you see the shark too?” Makoto asked, taking Ren into his arms again. She nodded quickly, her tiny ponytails almost falling out of their starfish clips. “Alright then, you two will rest in my room. I’ll be out here to see if the shark had hid somewhere I didn’t check.” Makoto had figured Ren had a nightmare and told Ran about it, causing them to freak out (or vice versa) but he would see if there actually was something.

He was scared but he hated when his siblings were scared, so he took the leader role and protected the younglings. They had no natural predators, Makoto had realized, so it wasn’t like a shark would actually come to their shelter and hide away when they saw him.

_…Right?_

It would certainly hide when the shark saw him, he had weighed out in his mind and gulped. Makoto had also realized that when they came here, they typically hunted in the early morning, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have easily eaten Ren or Ran. If there was something there, it could’ve easily taken the opportunity to down his siblings.

Thinking that made Makoto want to regurgitate his fish he had earlier, but he didn’t as he heard Ren and Ran talking behind him. “I said go rest. Mom and Dad will be home soon, go to sleep in my room.” Makoto instructed, a smooth, comforting tone laced within his voice. He knew that if there was a shark in there, he’d be able to take it down with flipping it over and holding it there, but he didn’t want the two watching him as he did so.

He didn’t like being known as the one to kill something, but if there is something in there, he’d be quick to strike and not think twice about it.

_Well, until afterwards._

He still felt bad about having to kill that seal a while back, but he had the opportunity to. Not to mention his father was there and he had to show him he could kill something, otherwise who knows what would’ve happened. Orcas teach their kin the skills they need to have, even deliberately, so if he hadn’t killed that seal, he might’ve not eaten anything for that day.

 _Maybe, who knows?_ Makoto thought and sighed a little as he continued to hear his siblings whisper to each other.

“If there is a shark in there, they can feel you moving your mouths. Go to bed.” Makoto almost growled, his voice once again low as he turned to stare at the younglings. He had figured sharks also use some sort of echolocation like them, but he wasn’t quite sure if that was the case. Ren whimpered and scattered off toward Makoto’s room, Ran following after him.

Makoto was definitely scared, but he couldn’t let that show through; he had to be strong for his siblings and he had to show that if something was there he wouldn’t let it come back again.

He waited there all night, finally coming to the conclusion there was nothing there and it was a bad nightmare. Even knowing that, he felt like something bad was going to happen to something – or someone.

**.x.**

Makoto had taken his brother and sister along the next day to have them play around with his friends. Joining up with them, he had spotted Haru, followed along by a butterflyfish and a Moorish idol (who happened to be clinging onto the butterflyfish which was typical). The Moorish idol’s smile quickly brightened as Makoto drew closer, and with a loud “Mako-chan!” the fish was soon latched onto the latter.

“I’m surprised you’re here; you’re usually in shallower parts.” Makoto had briefly commented and Nagisa Hazuki’s smile faded before returning again. He tapped his black and white striped – accented with a flash of yellow – fin against the sand, the long string-like extension following suit and resting against the sand. Moving and flicking his tail back up, he almost hit a lobster nearby his tail. He giggled as he clasped his hands onto Makoto’s shoulders and the poor lobster skittered away.

“Well, technically, you’re all over the place. Rei-chan and I aren’t, so I’m surprised _you’re_ here, Mako-chan!” Nagisa said, coral eyes narrowing a little. Makoto was confused for a slight moment ( _was he saying that he was surprised I was here because I came to his turf?_ ), but he didn’t question it anymore, because Nagisa was now smiling as he started to play with Ren and Ran. Nagisa’s laughter could be described as bubbly; his happiness was practically filling the water when he thought of the idea to play hide and seek with the younglings.

Makoto peeked a glance toward the butterflyfish. He looked at his bright yellow scales, accented with two white stripes by his belly; a black stripe around his waist, a blue outline surrounding the black. Makoto’s eyes, however, eventually went to a black patch by his dorsal fin, noticing the black was surrounded by a blue circle.

Rei Ryugazaki looked at the orca, glasses strapped on his face. Makoto had only met him a few times before ( _were he and Nagisa mating? Was that even possible for their two different species? I’m not one to question that, though, so I’ll just keep that to myself_ ) and he seemed nice; he was just quiet and didn’t have much to say in certain conversations. Makoto felt him swim closer, and he let out a quiet click to listen in to make sure it wasn’t his brain that was messing with him.

He concluded that, yes, he did move closer and that resulted in him looking over at the other fish. “What is it?” Makoto asked and Rei kept a suspicious eye on him.

“I was just noticing you looking at me, and I was just wondering why.” He had a dangerously stern voice, almost like he was afraid of something, and Makoto had an idea why he would be like this. “…You weren’t thinking of—“

“I-I… I just like your pattern design, that’s all.” Makoto arched an eyebrow, interrupting the frightened fish and Rei’s expression softened. The orca could almost feel Rei relaxing his muscles. “They’re beautiful.” He remembered Nagisa saying something about how Rei likes beautiful things, and so it wouldn’t hurt to compliment him.

 _I mean, he did think I was going to eat him, probably._ Makoto thought and let a little smile tug at his lips when Rei immediately beamed. “You think so? That’s what Nagisa-kun says all of the time, but they are, aren’t they? Especially the blue.” He pointed to the black stripes bordered with blue around his waist.

“The blue is certain a beautiful color. The circle is the most mesmerizing part though.” Makoto added earnestly, a smile showing through a bit more.

“R-Right, Makoto-senpai!” Rei squeaked out, blushing a bright red. “So-sorry for thinking you were going to eat me!” He pushed his glasses up, even though they were strapped to his face to prevent falling off, and hung his head.

“It’s alright, I do eat a lot of fish.” Makoto shrugged a shoulder and continued watching Nagisa play with his younger siblings. “I don’t think I’ve ever tasted butterflyfish, however.” He let out a little laugh, turning to look at Rei, who crossed his arms.

“A-and you’re not going to, either!”

“I’m just joking, just joking, Rei.” Makoto assured the other fish and swam over to Haru, who had his eyes trained on something else in the distance. He was clicking and squeaking, using echolocation to figure out if the thing was getting closer.

It turned away from them when it sensed the movement occurring behind Makoto and Haru and swam off, but eventually turned its head back toward them curiously. Makoto noticed it quickly changed directions and started heading toward them at a speed Makoto was far from comfortable with.

When Makoto could see clear enough, it was a dark red haired girl coming toward them, her gray tail swaying side to side behind her fiercely. “Shark.” Haru muttered quietly and Makoto gritted his teeth before looking back at Rei.

“I might not taste you, but I’m sure someone else will.”

Rei’s eyes widened and he ushered Nagisa over to him, and there was a sudden ‘Stop!’ that echoed throughout the water. “D-Don’t move! Please!” Makoto looked around before deciding it was the shark that had said that, and when she got close enough Makoto could taste the blood radiating from her. “O-Oh, there’s an orca th-there, I-I’m sorry for bo-bothering you,” her magenta red eyes were full of pain and Makoto shook his head.

“Don’t worry about me, I won’t do anything to you; what happened?” Makoto sighed a little, immediately swimming closer to her and she flinched. He pressed a hand against her wounded arm, trying to stop the bleeding that was pouring from the wound. She screamed out from the pain and tried to instinctively fight against him. Makoto decided to gently nudge her body, getting her to flip over onto her back. She let out one last fighting scream before growing dazed, body and fins going limp. Her dorsal fin fell straight and her breathing became steady and relaxed, causing Makoto let out another little sigh. “Get her something to cover her wound, she’ll be like this for a little while. Go.” Nagisa immediately joined Makoto’s side, playing with the shark’s fin and the orca arched an eyebrow at him. “Don’t, Nagisa. We don’t know if she’s injured anywhere else.” Makoto said and Nagisa pouted.

Rei came back quickly with some pieces of seaweed a few minutes later ( _he panicked and forgot why he swam away for a second, that’s why it took so long_ ). Haru and Nagisa kept Makoto’s siblings back while Makoto inspected the bite on her arm and, without waiting any longer, wrapped it up tightly.

 _It’s a shark bite_. Makoto noticed and gently turned the shark right-side-up, righting her internal balance. Quickly, she glanced at the new foreign pressure on her arm before looking up at Makoto. “D-Did you do that?” She asked quietly.

“I wasn’t going to let you continuously bleed out.” Makoto gave a small smile to her and she smiled back.

“Thank you.” She sighed a little. “I’m Gou Matsuoka, I like being called Kou though. Part of the Matsuoka shark clan, but… Oh well; what are your names?” Kou asked. The boys all introduced themselves, Rei being a bit nervous around her even though she seemed sweet. Her spiky teeth flashed as she smiled and the butterflyfish wearily watched her. “So, we have a butterflyfish, a Moorish idol, a bottlenose dolphin, and a pack of transient orcas.” She sat on one side of her tail, curling it up around her and placed all her weight on her good arm.

Ren and Ran smiled and giggled around her, no longer feeling threatened by her presence even if they had a nightmare about a shark a night ago. Makoto still watched her when she was around his siblings, but they seemed to be enjoying her, even though she was resting her arm. “So, what happened back there? A shark bite?” Makoto asked her and she sighed.

“Oh, it was nothing, really… Sometimes when a shark approaches too closely to another, they react with a warning bite. I had done that to my brother, and I guess he had bit too hard.” Kou shrugged her shoulder, flinching a bit when she realized she had moved her bad arm. “Trust me, I’ll bite him back later. We also bite to show dominance, which is a weird trait, but hey, it works.” She giggles a little, even though she’s still got a stinging feeling in her arm, which shows through in her face.

“Why’s that?” Ran asks, swimming over to the shark and arching an eyebrow, eagerly wanting to know more.

“Females dominate over males. Though, we’re always fighting over that, because he’s also larger and older than I am, which are also factors in dominance.” Kou answers. “So—“

There was a quick burst of her name that vibrated throughout the salty water. There was another redheaded shark coming toward them, but they had noticed that the red hair did not match Kou’s red hair. Not taking the chance, however, Makoto protectively ushered and circled in front of his siblings. Kou blushed a little, recognizing the voice immediately. “Seijuuruo…”

“Where were you? Your brother is looking for you.” Seijuuruo was fast at swimming and it almost made Makoto jealous how fast he got to the wounded shark. His spiked hair, colored a light red, and Kou’s blush gave the impression that the two weren’t even indirectly related. Seijuurou finally took into his surroundings and immediately spotted the orca. Watching him cautiously, his gaze was directed toward him the longest before he looked back at Kou. “Are you okay? I heard he bit you pretty hard… Why are you here?”

“They helped me, I think. I couldn’t really remember but I was freaking out and then I swam into them and then… I remember I was screaming at Makoto-kun because it hurt, but he was trying to help me, and then I fell asleep.” Kou tapped her chin and Seijuurou glared up at the orca. “Then I woke up and my arm was wrapped up, so they were helping me.”

Makoto noticed his glare softened when she had said this and he nodded, trying to let Seijuuruo have a little bit of faith in him.

“But anyway, I should be getting back. It was nice meeting you all, I’ll have to see you again soon.” Kou giggled, causing the other shark to darken in skin tone.

With a collective goodbye, the friendly sharks disappeared, a trail of seaweed flowed behind the girl’s arm and her protective shark following behind her.

**.x.**

Makoto realized as soon as he got home that he had befriended two sharks, something that does not happen in the marine world. His mother and father will have something to say about it if Kou decided to stop by or if his siblings continued talking about her.

He would never hear the end of it, especially if the first shark was injured. Makoto decided to forget about what his parents would say, _because I’m sure they’d be okay with two sharks that got away, right? I mean, everyone else was there, and I couldn’t kill in front of them…_ He shook his head to forget about it, and settled down in his shelter when he heard a giggle come from the corner of his room.

“Ren? What is it?” Makoto asked without having to know who it was.

“I’m hungry! So hungry I could eat a whole school of fish!”

“Please wait until Mom and Dad are home, will you?” Makoto asked eventually deciding to swim over to the corner where he heard the giggle. He saw Ran was there as well, both of them pouting. He sighed, giving in. “Alright, alright, fine.”

“We want mackerel!” Ren and Ran squeaked at the same time, their smiles brightening and Makoto shrugged a shoulder.

“I will get whatever I can get, understand?” Makoto was finally firm with his answer and his siblings nodded excitedly. “You can just hope the fish I catch is mackerel. You’re both like Haru, I swear…” He got another giggle out of the both of them before swimming out of the room. “Are you two coming along, or are you going to stay here?”

“We’re coming!” They said simultaneously together, giggling and following their leader. Makoto fell silent as he continued to swim, having the younglings follow behind him respectively. “N-Niisan?” Ren said and Makoto paused his swimming, looking back at him.

“What is it?”

“Can we play with Kou-chan again?” Ran answered, as if she knew that that was the reason Ren had asked for his attention. Makoto sighed a little before lightly nodding his head.

“If we meet up with her, and her only, you can. But you need food. I thought you were _so_ hungry you could eat a whole school of fish?” Makoto snickered, smiling contently when they both pouted. “I’m just kidding, but seriously, let’s get some food before you go hang out with Kou-chan~” He soothed the younger one into smiling again with his promise and they were off again, searching for an easy catch.

Makoto was off catching a school of mackerel when he realized Ran wasn’t with them, and he looked around, noticing the small orca was nowhere to be found. He had realized it was taking forever to get the fish, but he never would’ve thought she would leave to go to Kou already.

Panic was settling in and Makoto grabbed Ren quickly, drawing him close to his body and setting off toward a specific direction, clicking and calling out to her for her to follow the sounds of his calls. “I should’ve never let you two join me, I should’ve made you wait until Mom and Dad got home, I should’ve waited and now she’s gone,” Makoto’s breathing got uneven and Ren hugged onto him quickly.

“N-Niisan,” he mumbled and Makoto called out, this time calling out louder than he’s ever done for his type. He made another click again, listening in and found something swimming up beside him.

“You looking for something?”

It was Haru’s voice, and Makoto turned around, almost hoping to see Ran in his arms, but instead he found Rei and Nagisa by his side. “Ran swam off and I can’t find her.” Makoto’s voice was shaking and his eyes widened in fear. “She went off to find Kou, you don’t think that…”

“No,” Nagisa’s black, white, and yellow tail swayed within the water, almost hypnotizing Makoto into a state of a coma, but he quickly looked back at Haru. “We can go save her! All together!”

“Nagisa, you don’t have to… I don’t want you two getting hurt… H-How about this, you, Rei, and Haru can take Ren back to your home, and I can go find her.” Makoto suggested, causing Haru to immediately shake his head.

“I’m coming with you. Dolphins are smarter than sharks, and pretty powerful too.” Haru defended and Makoto sighed a little. He knew something was going to happen, he just couldn’t decipher if it was good or bad, and he took the chance and nodded his head.

“Nagisa and Rei, please take Ren home and please stay there. Please keep him company as well; Nagisa, you’re pretty good with that.” Makoto commented and Nagisa nodded his head quickly and sharply.

“Of course, Mako-chan! Come on, Ren-chan, sweetie, let’s go home.” Nagisa grabbed a fish from Haru’s hand and Rei gently held the shaking youngling and set off toward their home.

“Come on, Makoto,” was all the dolphin said before swimming off, making various noises and calls before resorting to calling out her name.

It took a while, but Haru finally spotted a little tail in the sand; the pain that automatically drove through Makoto’s heart the day he found Haru face down in the sand appeared at this sight, and he immediately swam toward it, pulling it out of the sand gently.

His baby sister opened her eyes and let out a little whine of happiness when she discovered it was her big brother. “Ran, wh-what were you thinking?” He pulled her closer and she let out little gasps, mocking the sound of cries. “Don’t ever do that again.”

“Makoto, we have to go.” Haru’s voice echoed throughout the water and Makoto’s eyes narrowed.

“Alright then, good idea.”

**.x.**

_’…it seems the orcas that can do this have learned that if they turn the shark upside down, they don't fight back. They simply manipulate that to their advantage.' [Dr. Visser]_

Makoto still had the sense something was following them when they reached the brink of his home, and he had swam in front of Haru in order to deliver a shaking Ran off to Nagisa.

He heard a yelp come from behind him and Makoto turned around, seeing that certain shark he was afraid of seeing.

“Mind if I steal your companion for a little? Promise I’ll give him back, maybe.” The redhead matched Kou’s hair color, and Makoto immediately narrowed his eyes. “Your little orca was in my territory. Keep her out.”

“Who are you?” Nagisa asked, a slight scowl on his face.

“Rin Matsuoka, isn’t that obvious? You met my sister. Be lucky I’m not wanting to eat you, though. I’ve fed on too much fish today; I’m in the mood for something like this precious dolphin.” Rin gave a sly smirk and opened his mouth, latching it onto his arm. Haru’s tail thrashed around and he let out a sharp yell. Rin released his teeth from his flesh, smelling blood and swaying his tail back and forth eagerly.

Makoto narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth, swimming quickly, advancing on the shark. He moved and rammed Rin on the side of his body, in which the shark let out a surprised yelp at the brute force and was dazed for a moment. Haru took this as the opportunity to swim away toward the other shocked fishes.

The Pilot fish that had been following him screamed a little at the sudden attack on his partner and Makoto grasped his head and dorsal fin and flipped him over violently, immediately confusing and paralyzing the shark. “This is my territory, keep yourself out.” Makoto hissed, even though he knew he probably couldn’t hear him. Feeling a sense of anger, he tackled the shark down to the floor of the ocean and bit down on Rin’s throat, about to rip the flesh off. He didn’t, however, if he hadn’t remembered Ren and Ran were there, he would’ve.

“N-no, d-don’t hurt him, please!” The Pilot fish whined, thrashing his tail around, trying to pull the orca off of his shark. Makoto had a set time limit; fifteen minutes and then the shark would have respiratory problems, and then he would be able to make sure nothing would happen to Haru again. “Please! I’m sorry, I tried to talk him out of it, please don’t hurt him! He deserves it but please don’t kill him!” Makoto paused a little, pulling back to glance at the whining Pilot fish. “Please don’t…”

Makoto kept his teeth by Rin’s neck. He knew he would be acting like the Pilot fish if Rin had attacked someone smaller like his sibling; in Makoto’s defense he had attacked Haru and Makoto gave another little bite to the unconscious shark’s neck before finally pulling away. Looking at the upset fish beside him, he mumbled out a small, “What’s your name?”

“N-Nitori,” the Pilot fish stuttered in his response, squeaking and swimming cautiously closer to his shark companion, keeping a wary eye on the orca.

“Flip him back over and tell him it was pretty stupid to go after an orca’s dolphin.” Makoto tried not to stutter as he visibly saw Nitori shake. _What got over me?_ Makoto thought. Nitori nodded, carefully nudging the injured shark over. Rin growled, baring his teeth toward Haru, almost going over at him before he noticed the smell of his own blood radiating from the wound on his neck.

“The orca says that was p-pretty stupid for yo-you to go after an orca’s dolphin…” Nitori repeated, stuttering as much as Makoto wanted to and Rin winced at the pain. He looked up and red eyes connected with green, and Rin noticed the blood on his mouth before Makoto wiped it away.

“I could’ve killed you, p-please do not mess with Haru or my siblings.” Makoto kept his gaze on the shark, trying to get the message through.

“It’s just natural,” Rin barked, swimming up to him lazily. Makoto snapped his mouth shut at him, a glare immediately showing on his face. Rin backed away a little.

“It’s also natural if I just kill you right now and eat you. But I’m too nice to do that…” Makoto sighed a little at his own weakness, but Rin now watched him with a soft, cautious look. “I’m not afraid to kill your own Pilot fish, either.”

The cautious look was replaced with a glare. “Don’t touch my Pilot fish.”

“Don’t touch my dolphin. Now you know how it feels.” Makoto stated, swiftly crossing his arms.

Rin backed up a little once more, studying the orca over again before nodding. “… Y-Yeah, whatever. Come on, Nitori.”

The shark swam away, his Pilot fish following him, back to their ‘territory’. Makoto finally broke away from watching his tailfin sway back and forth and turned back to Haru, whose wound had been wrapped up just like Kou’s has been. “Do you think he’ll be back?” Nagisa asked quietly.

“Of course he will be, but for what, I don’t know.” Makoto answered, hugging Haru gently. “He was so quick, I don’t know what came over me, but I’m sorry you had to see that.”

Haru shrugged with one shoulder, “It’s whatever.”

Makoto kissed his cheek comfortingly. “Please do not think of me as a killer.”

“You didn’t kill him,” Nagisa chirped in, and Rei nodded his head.

“I suppose.” He still kept the wounded dolphin next to him, in his arms, and fell silent. They stayed like that for a while, even if his parents had returned home and took the younglings to bed, even if Rei and Nagisa had left. “I was incredibly scared.” Makoto admitted after hours of silence, and Haru nodded his head.

“So was I.” Haru sighed. “…About the whole, ‘orca’s dolphin’ thing.”

“Isn’t it obvious…?” Makoto asked, pulling back a little to look into Haru’s blue eyes and felt his face heat up a little.

“…Mm, I guess so,” came the muffled, quick reply as Haru leaned up and gave a short kiss to the latter.

**.x.**


End file.
